Tim Edmunds

Prof. Edmunds is professor of international security and the co-investigator of the project. He is a leading specialist in security sector reform policies and the politics of armed forces. recently he has been in particular studying the security assistance in Somalia. Further information is available at his university website.

SafeSeas visits NMIC

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In January 2019, SafeSeas’ director Prof. Tim Edmunds, visited the National Maritime Information Centre (NMIC) in Portsdown, UK. NMIC, is one of the most interesting international role models of how to organise Maritime Domain Awareness on a national level. Understanding how its work might be replicated in other regions of the world, is one important part of the answer of how to fight maritime crime.

While hosted by the Royal Navy, NMIC has an interesting governance structure and is not ‘owned’ by any one individual ministry or department. It is a collective resource, shared and funded by a range of government bodies and agencies with interests in the sea. 

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Seychelles: Small Country – Big Lessons for Capacity Building

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Famed for its idyllic beaches and pleasant tropical climate, and with a population of less than 100,000 permanent residents, Seychelles is perhaps the archetypal small island state. It is also an increasingly important actor in the maritime security of the Western Indian Ocean region. This is in large part due to two factors. First, its strategic location off the coast of East Africa, in proximity both to the troubled state of Somalia and to some of the world’s busiest and most important maritime trade routes. Second, the significance of the maritime sector to the Seychellois economy, through fishing, tourism and so on, and the willingness of the government to take on a regional leadership role in countering maritime insecurity. Seychelles for example has one of the most capable ocean-going coastguards in the region and has been one of the most active states in the region in the fight against Somali pirates, including as the leading centre for the prosecution of suspects. 

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